Magee Marsh is Ohio's Mecca for Migratory Birds

A northern parula, a type of warbler, takes flight from a branch at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area. The migrant is heading to breeding grounds in Canada with a brief stop on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Magee Marsh draws birders from all over the world.

Kenn Kaufman is author of the Kaufman Series of guidebooks on birds and other North American wildlife. He guides bird tours all over the world, but in early spring stays close to Ottawa County, Ohio for the Biggest Week in American Birding at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area.

Credit JEFF ST.CLAIR / WKSU

Kaufman points to the nearly invisible bird at the base of a tree.

"It’s like a piece of bark that’s come to life,” he says with the authority of someone whose life's work is creating pithy descriptions of birds.

Part of the thrill is that, like many of the birds we spot along the boardwalk that snakes through the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, the creeper is just passing through.

The miracle of migrationThe banding program was started in 1978 by Black Swamp Bird Observatory Research Director Mark Shieldcastle, who’s spent his career studying bird migration.

Mark Shieldcastle is research director at Black Swamp Bird Observatory and former head of waterfowl research for the state of Ohio.

Credit JEFF ST.CLAIR / WKSU

“I developed the wave theory in the 90’s from that work," says Shieldcastle, "where these birds are coming through in waves."

A wave of birds is an association of species that are migrating at the same time. Shieldcastle says birds are imbued with precise internal clocks that tells them when to take flight.

“Every one of these birds are programmed by length of day," says Shieldcastle, "that’s what changes their hormonal actions and everything. Even near the Equator, they can pick up on minute changes in day length.”

He says migration is a risky time for a tiny bird traveling thousands of miles.

“For most of all these small birds, 80 percent of mortality is believed to occur during migration," says Shieldcastle. "So having good, consistent stopover habitat like what Ohio has is highly important."

He says conserving habitiat is critical for migrating birds' survival. "That’s where you can make a difference.”

And that difference includes educating the public about Ohio’s place in birds’ epic journeys, a topic close to the heart of big-time birder Kenn Kaufman.

“I’m not trying to make everybody into serious birders," he says, "but it’s such a miracle that this happens at all that I’d like people to get out and experience a little of it themselves.”

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Angry birders may be going after the Ohio Air National Guard in court.

Ohio’s Black Swamp Observatory and “American Bird Conservancy” in Washington, D.C., say they’ll sue if the Air National Guard builds a wind turbine at Camp Perry. They say, a churning blade 200-feet above the Lake Erie shore could impact some of the most important bird migration routes in the Americas.